Out on a limb at Mike Lief.com

There's more -- oh, so much more -- over at Malkin's page, with details guaranteed to raise your blood pressure at the fecklessness, the sheer, bloody incompetence and corruption at work here.

But there's still time, as the vote isn't scheduled until noon, Eastern time.

Call 202-224-3121. Call now.

This isn't a bailout; it's a broad daylight bank heist, and the guards, the tellers, hell, the bank manager are all in on it.

Posted by Mike Lief at 10:08 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Why do I loathe California's legislators?

For reasons too numerous to inventory, California's Democrat-dominated legislature is an almost perfect storm of incompetence and greed, coupled with a dedication to finding more creative ways to spend the taxpayers' money on stupendously stupid social programs, transferring our hard-earned greenbacks into the pockets of the latest victim group de jour.

Of course, some of that cash has to pass first though the pockets of the feckless crapweasels themselves, hence, this story.

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Californians have been feeling pain at the pump for months amid record-high gas prices, with one notable exception: state lawmakers.

Members of California's Legislature enjoy a perk not available in any other state capital - unchecked use of gasoline charge cards that stick taxpayers with the bill.

Through the first seven months of the year, California taxpayers have spent $220,000 to pay the gasoline charges of their lawmakers, according to a review of records requested by The Associated Press. That includes July, when lawmakers already were passed their deadline to approve a budget and the state faced a $15.2 billion deficit.

California is unique in giving legislators free rein on transportation spending, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In most other states, lawmakers must submit the same kind of mileage expense forms used by companies to reimburse employees for their business travel.

[...]

On top of free gas, California lawmakers also get state-issued vehicles, another perk that most states avoid.

The fuel card given to lawmakers is supposed to be used "for legislative purposes," but there is no way to check if they use it for public business or private travel.

Lawmakers pull up to the pump, swipe the gas card and never see the bill, which is sent directly to the Senate and Assembly rules committees. The taxpayers take over from there.

"I trust them," said Jon Waldie, the Assembly Rules Committee's chief administrative officer.

The charge cards also can be used for incidental purchases such as snacks, drinks, windshield wipers or even oil changes. Legislative officers said there is no way to know how much lawmakers are charging for those but said the bulk of the payments are for fuel.

Why would we expect the politicians in Sacramento to be responsible with the budget, when they conveniently give themselves a bottomless line of credit, perks galore, all on our dime.

"I trust them," said Jon Waldie, the Assembly Rules Committee's chief administrative officer.

Then you, sir, are an imbecile. There is no reason to trust them, certainly not on matters fiscal. The appropriate sentiment is, "I loathe them," but a more measured response would be that used by Pres. Reagan with the Soviets -- a particularly apt analogy, given the ideological bent of most of the members of the California Politburo Ruling Class -- "Trust, but verify."

Via Autoblog.

Posted by Mike Lief at 01:34 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Gretchen Wilson

Here's the video of Gretchen Wilson's song, "When I Think About Cheating," set on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry, with ghostly accompaniment by the greats who once trod those boards, and spectral members of the audience filling the pews.

If you're only familiar with Wilson's raucous hits like "Redneck Woman" and "I'm Here For The Party," this song will be a surprising change of pace.

Posted by Mike Lief at 09:38 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

September 27, 2008

Bridezilla!

Currently showing on the TV, thanks to my wife using marital martial arts moves and wrestling the remote control away from me: Say Yes to the Dress, TLC's reality series about would-be brides agonizing over which wedding gown they want, their meddlesome moms and the consultants, salesmen and saleswomen they drive crazy.

Did I say it's a reality show? Let me rephrase that: It's a horror show. If single men watched this show, there'd be a serious decline in the marriage rate, and good cause for cataloguing the differences between the sexes -- differences that seem like mental illness to those of us standing on the other side of the gender line.

Cripes!

Now if I can just distract the wife long enough to grab the remote and switch back to The Military Channel.

Posted by Mike Lief at 09:42 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

September 26, 2008

The ad Obama's lawyers don't want you to see

The Obama campaign has been threatening to take legal action against TV stations that air this NRA ad, so I'm doing my part to ensure that it spreads far and wide.

It's not enough that the Obama wants to ignore the Second Amendment; he apparently doesn't have any respect for the First Amendment, either.

I'm still waiting for the outraged response -- and support for the NRA -- from the ACLU.

Posted by Mike Lief at 06:05 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

September 23, 2008

Humane Society: Wolves rule; Caribou suck

The Humane Society, horrified that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin supports hunting wolves as part of a wildlife conservation program, has broken its tradition against presidential endorsements.

Based on the photos above -- taken from the Humane Society's press release, can you guess which candidate the group is backing?

Abraham Lincoln and a fluffy puppy, versus blood, guns and carcasses.

Hmmm, let me think.

If you used your preternaturally sharp powers of observation and guessed the Obamessiah, congratulations; you're a master of the subtleties of the Moonbat mind.

According to the Humane Society:

[W]e've never before endorsed a presidential candidate. We have members on the left, in the center, and on the right, and we knew it could be controversial to choose either party's candidate for the top office in the nation. But in an era of sweeping presidential power, we must weigh in on this most important political race in the country. Standing on the sidelines is no longer an option for us.

I'm proud to announce today that the HSLF board of directors -- which is comprised of both Democrats and Republicans -- has voted unanimously to endorse Barack Obama for President. The Obama-Biden ticket is the better choice on animal protection, and we urge all voters who care about the humane treatment of animals, no matter what their party affiliation, to vote for them.

[...]

While McCain's positions on animal protection have been lukewarm, his choice of running mate cemented our decision to oppose his ticket. Gov. Sarah Palin's (R-Alaska) retrograde policies on animal welfare and conservation have led to an all-out war on Alaska's wolves and other creatures. Her record is so extreme that she has perhaps done more harm to animals than any other current governor in the United States.

Palin engineered a campaign of shooting predators from airplanes and helicopters, in order to artificially boost the populations of moose and caribou for trophy hunters. She offered a $150 bounty for the left foreleg of each dead wolf as an economic incentive for pilots and aerial gunners to kill more of the animals, even though Alaska voters had twice approved a ban on the practice. This year, the issue was up again for a vote of the people, and Palin led the fight against it -- in fact, she helped to spend $400,000 of public funds to defeat the initiative.

The Weekly Standard notes that Palin's program resulted in 124 wolves killed -- while saving the lives of approximately 1,500 moose and 3,000 caribou.

Seems like some animals are more equal than others.

Why does the Humane Society hate moose and caribou? Why are they so racist species-ist?

Posted by Mike Lief at 11:59 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Experience and education, but whence wisdom?

Victor Davis Hanson explains why he's confident that Sarah Palin has what it takes to be a heartbeat away from the presidency, comparing and contrasting the struggles of the two least experienced candidates on the ballot.

The point is this: I think it is much harder for a mother of three or four in an out-of-the-way Alaskan town to get elected to city council and the mayorship, then take on the entire Republican establishment and get elected governor than it is for a Barack Obama to emerge from Chicago politics into the Illinois state house and later Senate. The qualities that allowed a Palin to succeed without the power spouse, the identity politics, the Ivy-League cachet, the fawning New York editors and DC insider-press will ensure she does not implode on the campaign trail--and won't in office either.

Barack Obama, in contrast, on numerous occasions has complained how tiring, how hard, how unfair, how racist the campaign has turned out to be; Palin never. I could not imagine Obama doing his hope and change thing in the Senate while holding a one-year-old and checking on four more children at home. And I wager shooting a moose or trying to navigate a snowmobile in the chill is a little harder than shooting baskets in one's down time or offering riffs to the fainting at a Beverly Hills get together or Presidio Heights fundraiser.

I like the cut of Hanson's jib, can't really find fault with the point he makes: Obama's bellyaching is somehow ... unseemly, given the way he's floated upward and onward, much like the feather in Forrest Gump.

But Hanson goes on to make another point, one that was at the center of a conversation I had today with a dear friend, wherein we differed as to the comparable worth and merit of today's society versus that of the early 20th century.

I believe that, apart from the wonderful gadgets and hi-tech gee-gaws that we enjoy, the actual culture in which we swim is a foetid, stinking cesspool, filled with loutish, uncouth cretins, over educated and under socialized, rude to strangers in a way that would have shocked my grandparents, tolerant of aberrant behavior that would have earned a trip to the local jail, or a bag of feathers, a quick application of tar, and an assist out of town.

For all the opportunities afforded today's children and young adults, we have produced generations of people who have diplomas in hand, but can't do much of a value and don't know anything useful about ... well, anything.

I pointed out that it was American children educated in one-room schoolhouses, using rote memorization and decidedly old-fashioned and un-enlightened texts, who turned this nation into an economic powerhouse, harnessed the power of the atom, and put men on the moon.

And yet, today, an education is highly overrated, the real-world experience of people like, well, like Gov. Palin derided as too ridiculous, too small-town goober to have any utility in today's complex and dangerous world.

Hanson has this to say:

While civilization advances on the shoulders of the educated, it is carried along by the legs of the muscular classes. And the latter are not there by some magical IQ test or a natural filtering process that separates the wheat from the chaff, but rather by either birth, or, as often, by their preference for action and the physical world.

I have seen no difference in intelligence levels between those who inhabit the world of the physical and those who cultivate the life of the mind. That is, the most brilliant Greek philologists seemed no more impressive in their aptitude than the fellow who could take apart the transmission of an old Italian Oliver tractor, fix it, and put it back together--without a manual. And I knew three or four who could. The inept mechanic seemed no more dull than the showy graduate student who could not distinguish an articular infinitive from an accusative of respect.

My seventy-year old Austrian professor who, off the cuff, could recite the lettering peculiarities of some 100 or so Athenian inscriptions on stone was brilliant-but no more intuitive or impressive than my grandfather who at 86 could scan 100 rows of vines under irrigation, instantly access how many acre feet of water were in the field, how many more needed, and then screw up or down an iron gate on a 20-foot standpipe and ensure the ditch water reached the end of each row--and only the end of each row.

You know all this in your hearts

For most of you readers, all this is trite and self-evident. But apparently not for hundreds in politics, the media, the universities, Hollywood, and the foundations who seem to think that a fumbling nervous Obama in interviews, who grasps for a word and utters vacuous platitudes is "really" contemplative, like his Harvard Law professors; but when a Sarah Palin seems nervous under scrutiny from a pseudo-professorial, glasses-on-the-lower-nose Charlie Gibson, she is clearly an empty head with an Idaho BA.

A Ronald Reagan knew more about human nature, and thus what drives the Soviet Union than did all the Ivy-League Soviet specialists that surrounded Jimmy Carter-much less the Sally Quins and Maureen Dowds of that age. We in America, unlike the Europeans, know this intuitively, grasp that a Harry Truman figured out the Russian communists far better than did the Harvard-educated aristocrat FDR.

I am not calling for yokelism, or a proponent of false-populism. Rather, I wish to remind everyone that there are two fonts of wisdom: formal education, and the tragic world of physical challenge and ordeal. Both are necessary to be broadly educated. Familiarity with Proust or Kant is impressive, but not more impressive than the ability to wire your house or unclog the labyrinth of pipes beneath it.

In this regard, I think Palin can speak, and reason, and navigate with bureaucrats and lawyers as well as can Obama; but he surely cannot understand hunters, and mechanics and carpenters like she can. And a Putin or a Chavez or a Wall-Street speculator that runs a leverage brokerage house is more a hunter than a professor or community organizer. Harvard Law School is not as valuable a touchstone to human nature as raising five children in Alaska while going toe-to-toe with pretty tough, hard-nose Alaskan males.

What is wisdom?

Not necessarily degrees, glibness, poise, or factual recall, but the ability to understand human nature. And that requires two simple things: an inductive method of reasoning to look at the world empirically, and a body of knowledge and experience to draw on for guidance.

Palin in empirical fashion bucked the Republican establishment and the old-boy network when she thought it was unreasonable; Obama never figured out or at least never questioned Tony Rezko or the Chicago machine, Trinity Church or the Pelosi-Kennedy liberal mantra--unless it proved advantageous. Palin draws on everything from position papers on ANWR to how to keep four screaming kids fed and bathed; Obama on Harvard Law Review and dispensing more public money to more Chicago interest groups.

Well said, don't you think?

Posted by Mike Lief at 11:54 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

What are you eating?

I've been on a modified low-carb diet for the last few years, having dropped about 30 pounds of middle-age spread using the Atkins diet. As a result I've become a constant label reader, looking for the sugar and carb content of everything I buy.

In a nutshell, protein good, sugar bad. So, subtract the fiber from the carbohydrates on the label, which gives you the net carb content of an item.

But there are items that leave me a bit confused as to their effect on my glycemic index, so this site is quite useful.

Here's the page analyzing Shredded Wheat 'N Bran, which is similar to Colon Blow, without the (ahem) embarrassing side effects.

There's a ton of data available, in easy-to-read charts and graphs, with drop-down menus to change portion size, as well as shortcuts to other foods.

Check out pages like Better Choices for Weight Loss; Optimum Health; and Weight Gain (thanks, but no thanks!).

It's a useful source for anyone interested in the nutritional content of prepared foods.

Posted by Mike Lief at 09:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 22, 2008

3rd ave el

Posted by Mike Lief at 09:20 AM

3rd Avenue El

The view north along former South Ferry-bound (to 12/1950) downtown local track, taken on May 12, 1955. I wonder if my Dad stood on this platform after returning from Korea. (Click on image for larger version)

I think all native New Yorker's have an instinctual fondness for the Subway, its subterranean, hot, humid and noisy stations and lights-flickering cars filled with strap-hanging commuters swaying and rocking together somehow capturing the very essence of life in Gotham.

For members of my parents' generation, the long-gone elevated trains -- or the "El," as they used to be called -- had an equal hold on their affections, too.

This site has an incredible number of photos and articles about New York's subways and Els, including this very modern account of the debut of the 3rd Avenue El, back in 1878.

THE NEW YORK WORLD · TUESDAY AUGUST 27TH, 1878

EAST SIDE RAPID TRANSIT. Trains clattering over the elevated iron road up the Bowery and Third Avenue.

The east side branch of the New York Elevated Railroad fulfilled part of the promise of rapid transit yesterday by beginning to run trains from the South Ferry to the Grand Central Depot in Forty-second street. All matters had been thoroughly arranged before the first trip was made; the exact running time that the new engines could make was decided upon and a schedule had been carefully arranged. There were but few stations, however, at which passengers were picked up and dropped. Those were at South Ferry, Hanover square, Fulton street, Eighth street and Forty-second street. The first trip was made from South Ferry to Grand Central Depot at 5:30 A. M., and the distance traveled in twenty-five minutes.

A reporter of THE WORLD road on a train that left South Ferry about 1 P.M. This station is a common one for both branches, and many crowd in waiting started for the door when the agent called out "All passengers for the east side or Third avenue." There were two handsome cars on the train of maroon color, touched with gold and light paints, and glistening with varnish. The engine also was new and was provided with a regular locomotive cab. The cars within were finished entirely in wood, the seats being of perforated pattern now so common, and running lengthwise of the car. The roofs were slightly decorated, and there was an appearance of neatness without the attempt at elegance of the Metropolitan road.

While the reporter was examining the cars with a critical eye the train was already far on its way through the narrow down-town streets. Through Pearl street it ran, making a deafening clatter with the rattle of the road itself, the grinding of the wheels and the reverberations from the buildings. People in the street below, however, seemed to pay no attention to the engine and cars and the horses stood quietly in front of their trucks and carts, without drivers near, and munched their fodder. In Third avenue the horses of the surface cars and of wagons jogged along, people looked into shop windows and not to the sky, and the only difference was the train, having more room on each side, did not make so much noise.

By this time, after one or two stops, the two cars were comfortably filled, several of the passengers being women. The reporter, for lack of anything else to do, attempted to read the store signs, as he was rapidly carried along. Only the big ones were readable. A woman knitting at a window was unpleasantly confounded with a man pressing hats, and a barber in the second story of a house, leisurely shaving a customer, became by a sort of dissolving view arrangement a fat German woman energetically spanking a child.

Cooper Institute suddenly loomed up -- a dark mass. There was not much of the journey left after this, nor much novelty. There was the same round of women sitting at windows, sewing and occasionally half lazily looking at the cars that shot past their houses; and of people quietly walking along the streets, until the train turned to Forty-second street, frightened a team of horses attached to a brewer's dray and then halted at the Grand Central Depot.

As the reporter passed out of the car he said to one of the conductors:

"Were you connected with the west-side road?"

"Yes," answered the man.

"Have you noticed any difference between the noise of the two roads?"

"I should think I have."

"Which is the worst?"

"This."

It is certain that a horrible shriek and squeak of metal on metal, as if the cars were dragged over the track with brakes down, is sometimes to be heard on the east side and strange to the west.

The construction of the east side branch of the New York Elevated road was begun about the 1st of last November, under contracts with the New Jersey Iron and Steel Company, the Passaic Rolling Mill Company. J. B. & J. N. Cornell and A. R. Whitney Brother, the railroad company furnishing the plans and specifications. There are two different kinds of structure on the new road. The longitudinal girders and columns are substantially the same on both branches, but on Front and Pearl streets, as far as Franklin square, the columns are straight up to the cross girders. The remainder are curved. On Third avenue, above Fifth street, the two tracks are connected by arched girders. Mr. Walter Katte, the chief engineer of the road, said yesterday that he thought the road would be finished to Sixty-first street about October 1st and to Harlem before the 1st of January.

Each car will accommodate forty-eight persons.

The engines are all of the same kind, excepting that some have four wheels and others eight. Both will be tried until it is found which will answer best. Many new men have been taken on and the entire force has been divided between the two branches, so that there will be an old hand on each train running on the east side. The trains will run at ten-minute intervals between 5:30 and 6: A.M., five minutes between 6 and 10 A. M., six minutes between 10 A. M. and 3 P. M., five minutes between 3 and 7:30 P. M., and ten minutes between 7:30 and 8 P. M., when the line will be closed. Between the hours of 5 and 7:30 A. M. and 5 and 7 P. M. the fare will be 5 cents; at other times, 10 cents. The running time for the trip will be twenty-five minutes until the engines and cars are broken in.

The following answers about the noise on the road were collected by the Post reporter:

At Lamke Brothers', grocers, No. 103 Third avenue: "Naw, we are used to noises on this avenue."

At Charles Eitenbenz's boot and shoe shop, No. 89 Third avenue: "No, in about a week we don't hear it no more."

At Meyerholz & Blum's florists, No. 77 Third avenue: "No, we ain't got no time to notice it."

At George P. Lies's cigar store, No. 59 Third avenue: "No, it doesn't make as much noise as Sixth avenue."

At George W. Hamill's, undertaker, No. 26 Third avenue: "No, you listen now: it's not as loud as that street-car."

I could spend hours -- actually, I have spent hours -- at NYC Subway. Make sure to check out the sections on abandoned lines and stations -- especially City Hall; it's like finding the treasure in Capone's vault.

Posted by Mike Lief at 07:37 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 21, 2008

Little Italy 1908

New York, May 16, 1908. "Italian festa. Mott Street decorated for religious feast." View full size. At left is a section of street seen in this post a few days ago. Google Street View. To the left of the white horse, 166 Mott (Buffa & Cianciosi) is now Ken Mable Inc. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection.

I would also give anything to walk into this street scene.

I would venture to say I'd give up my Blackberry forever to walk into this street scene.

Love the little girl in boots...with pigtails, the painted signage on the back of the wooden wagon...

I can imagine the sound of this street, children shouting, adults calling down to them. Oh, beautiful. Now it's honking and alarms going off and people chattering in a million languages. But back then, it must have been sweet, the clip clop of horses and the calls of the busy street.

Posted by Mike Lief at 12:29 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 19, 2008

California's budget mess

Anytime the Democratic-controlled California legislature fails to pass legislation, I'm usually pleased, given the nanny-state laws, rampant tax increases and even more rampant growth in the cancer that is government spending -- which is, course, taxpayer-funded spending.

One would thing that Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger would be an effective brake on the tax-and-spend Dems in the capitol, but you'd be wrong -- and der Governator is quite peeved with the GOP minority's refusal to go along with his free-wheeling plans.

The Wall Street Journal's Stephen Moore has the best take on the situation in Sacramento I've seen.

"Arnold has lost his mind." That's what one long-time GOP budget aide in California told me in response to news that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will veto the state budget.

Everyone is confused by this latest action, because just a few weeks ago the governor was running around the state insisting on a tax increase to balance the budget. Now that conservative Republicans have won a major victory in forcing the majority Democrats to pass a no-tax-increase version, Arnold seethes that he wants a budget that puts "our fiscal house in order, and I promise the people of California that I will not stop until the job is done."

The problem is that Arnold doesn't have any allies left in the legislature in either party. Conservatives are still fuming for good reason that Arnold tried to ram a tax increase through by going into Republican districts to attack lawmakers in his own party who wouldn't vote for his tax hike. When Republicans in the state assembly tried to insist on a hard spending cap, Arnold was cutting deals with Democrats. Meanwhile, Democrats are angry they didn't get a tax increase or the big spending increases they wanted.

But the budget that Arnold will veto is a victory of sorts for taxpayers and conservatives know it. That's because the budget, three months overdue, does not include a sales tax or income tax increase to close a $15 billion budget deficit. Heroically, Republicans neither bent nor broke and effectively vetoed the tax increase plan the Democrats and their left wing interest groups coveted.

One hero here was House Minority Leader Mike Villines, who convinced his GOP caucus to rally behind the "no new taxes" position despite a big lobbying campaign by the media and recipients of government spending and the governor. "We're all taxed out in California," Mr. Villines tells me. "We all agreed that taxes would be counterproductive, because we are losing so many businesses and families to low tax states in the West."

But now along comes Arnold trying to recreate himself as a fiscal conservative. Many in the state think he's a budgetary Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde. Mr. Villines points out that state spending has risen more than 40% in four years on Arnold's watch. Where was the concern then about "putting the fiscal house in order?" Senate Republicans, including the minority leader Dave Cogdill, are vowing to override the governor's veto.

Arnold has betrayed Republicans too often on too many issues -- taxes, environmental regulation, health care, global warming -- to have any credibility left. His budget veto comes years too late and billions of dollars short.

I supported the recall of Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, but as it turns out, he was more conservative than his Republican successor when it came to the nuts and bolts of governing. Thank goodness the Republican minority has managed to hold firm against the Dems -- and their ally in the Governor's Mansion.

Posted by Mike Lief at 12:11 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

September 17, 2008

New York

The Brooklyn Bridge Promenade and Manhattan Terminal in 1907 amid a forest of billboards facing the trains. The domed structure is the New York World building. Detroit Publishing Company glass negative. (Click on image for larger version)

Anonymous Tipster, one of the commenters over at Shorpy, said:

What strikes me about this magnificent photograph isn't its quaint antiquity but its modernity. It almost seems to be a futuristic vision, or glimpse of another planet. Everything in view, with the exception of the sky itself, is man-made. Gigantic words and phrases loom above everything; plumes of steam or smoke rise into the air, produced by infernal machines. H.G. Wells or Jules Verne come to mind.

I think she's got it right; there's something about the photo that evokes the feel of the future, viewed from the perspective of a very modern, 19th Century futurist.

As with all of the photos at Shorpy, the detail contained in these large images invites close study; click on this image for a bigger glimpse of life in 1907, then head over to Shorpy for an even larger version, if you need even more detail.

I find myself inspecting the images, always wondering if I'll catch a glimpse of my teenage grandfather or my grandmother, a young child, with her parents in Brooklyn.

The site's a virtual time machine.

Posted by Mike Lief at 10:16 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Advertising that makes you smile

Bridgestone Tires apparently created this ad for the 2008 Superbowl, but decided to run it in movie theaters instead. I saw it tonight on TV and thought it was well worth 60 seconds.

Posted by Mike Lief at 09:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Jail seems like a better alternative

If the trailer for the film Role Model is to be believed, community service is a huge pain in the butt.

And also very funny. And profane.

Don't click if easily offended.

I laughed more than once.

Posted by Mike Lief at 07:34 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

September 14, 2008

Free to be ... oh, shut up!

Marlo Thomas, who first achieved fame as the daughter of pioneering TV star Danny Thomas, went on to achieve her own showbiz chops in That Girl!, a '60s sitcom about a wide-eyed naif making her way in the big city. Thomas later married talkshow pioneer and trendsetting sensitive male Phil Donahue, before playing pivotal role in the self-esteem movement of the early '70s.

Thomas was one of the

Posted by Mike Lief at 08:31 PM

Revenge of the Nerds (aka, Hollywood's conservatives)

Word

Americans numbed by the daily barrage of politics-as-usual are about to be awakened by some new fireworks — Hollywood-style.

Imagine documentary filmmaker Michael Moore and director David Zucker (Airplane! and The Naked Gun) in the center ring and you begin to get the idea.

Zucker’s new movie, An American Carol (due in theaters Oct. 3), is a shot across Hollywood’s bow, aimed directly at Moore. No slouch in self-defense — or self-promotion — Moore will release his own online movie, Slacker Uprising, a few days before Zucker’s to reap the benefit of the backhanded buzz.

The release of both films has been timed for maximum impact on the coming election. No matter who wins this cultural crossfire, Zucker’s movie is revolutionary. He and co-writer Myrna Sokoloff (a former staffer for California Sen. Barbara Boxer), and other Hollywood renegades from the Left who were mugged by reality on 9/11, are busting out of the closet — with a serious case of the giggles.

Agree or not with their politics, they’re not nobodies who can be ignored or dismissed as witless. Producer Stephen McEveety’s résumé includes such mega-hits as Braveheart and The Passion of the Christ. Actors include Jon Voight, Dennis Hopper, Kelsey Grammer, James Woods, Kevin Farley, and perennial villain Robert Davi.

As the title suggests, the story line is based on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Ghosts of the past — George Washington (Voight), Gen. George S. Patton (Grammer) and John F. Kennedy (Chriss Anglin) — squire America-bashing filmmaker “Michael Malone” around to see how the world would look if America hadn’t bothered to fight any wars.

Malone, brilliantly played by Farley, has joined forces with a left-wing group, MoveAlong.org, to ban the Fourth of July. He also has been hired by terrorists to make a propaganda film to help recruit a diminishing supply of suicide bombers.

And you thought suicide bombers weren’t funny.

The joke begins when two would-be terrorists enter a New York City subway station and are met at a security checkpoint by two NYPD officers. Just as they’re about to be searched, in rushes a squad of ACLU attorneys with a stop-search order.

“Thank Allah for the ACLU,” says one of the terrorists — and we’re off!

The vignettes keep coming so fast, it’s hard to keep up.

One memorable scene has “Rosie O’Connell” appearing on The O’Reilly Factor to promote her new documentary, The Truth About Radical Christians. The documentary shows two priests who hijack an airplane and storm the cockpit brandishing crucifixes. Next, we see two nuns festooned with explosives boarding a bus as passengers shout: “Oh no! Not the Christians!”

Another standout has Patton’s ghost showing Malone a modern-day plantation full of happy cotton pickers who thank Malone for being such a humane slave owner. Malone staggers at the sight only to learn that this is his plantation and these are his slaves — thanks to anti-war sentiment that prevented the Civil War.

In a line that filmmakers are still debating whether to cut, a smiling Gary Coleman finishes polishing a car and tosses his rag to someone: “Hey, Barack!”

No, he didn’t say that. Yes. He. Did.

That’s the movie, folks. In-your-face, off-the-charts, over-the-top, irreverent, and insensitive in the extreme. An American Carol may not be The Best Movie You Ever Saw, but it’s something. It’s radical in its assault on the left wing; it’s brave given the risk of peer ridicule and the potential for career suicide.

And it’s funny — if you like that sort of thing. Generally, I don’t. As someone who is slapstick immune — and who hated The Three Stooges — I’m an unlikely cheerleader for this kind of film. But I admire its spirit.

An American Carol will probably be panned by jaded reviewers who will point out the film’s flaws. Some in the target audience may find certain elements too crude — nurses and doctors playing with an oversized derriere that’s been separated from the rest of the corpse.

But the film makes a serious and necessary point that can’t be missed amid the laughter and the outrage: America is not the enemy.

Zucker insists he needn’t be taken seriously, but he does believe that Islamist terrorism poses a greater threat than those Americans typically demonized by Hollywood and the Left.

For delivering that message, maybe Zucker deserves not an Oscar, but a Nobel Prize.

Posted by Mike Lief at 09:51 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 13, 2008

Like a time machine

December 1942. Chicago & North Western roundhouse, Chicago. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano. Click on image for larger version.

That's what Kodachrome is, a window into the past, a two-dimensional time machine, reminding us that the history was not a black-and-white world.

Don't get me wrong; I love black-and-white photography, the way it emphasizes shape and texture through light and shadow, but it also adds an abstract, distancing quality to the images.

Photos like these, from Shorpy's site, invite close inspection, as the viewer marvels over the details.

May 1942. Patriotic display at the Beecher Street School in Southington, Conn. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Fenno Jacobs. Click on image for larger version.

Look at the faces of the children above. They're all in their 70s now, grandparents, great-grandparents, but in this photo they look like today's kids -- although considerably better dressed and behaved than their modern counterparts.

August 1942. "Mrs. Eloise J. Ellis has been appointed by civil service to be senior supervisor in the Assembly and Repairs Department at the Naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, Texas. She buoys up feminine morale in her department by arranging suitable living conditions for out-of-state employees and by helping them with their personal problems." 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Howard Hollem for the Office of War Information. (Click on image for larger version.)

Or how about the stunningly attractive Mrs. Ellis, who today would surely be in her late 80s? You've got to admit that she's got a timeless appeal, with a hint of a Mona Lisa smile dancing around the corners of her mouth.

It's a reminder of our mortality -- and the arrogance and willful blindness of our relative youth -- that we see our aged neighbors making their way slowly through the supermarket, driving cautiously down the street, and forget that they were young and vibrant, some of them supermodel-gorgeous in a pre-supermodel time.

Posted by Mike Lief at 05:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Tasteless, but funny

Not for the weak of heart.

Or stomach.

Or easily offended.

But funny, nonetheless.

You've been warned.

Posted by Mike Lief at 03:27 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

September 12, 2008

Airplane, Naked Gun, whaterver

If you've never seen Airplane! or The Naked Gun, you've missed out on perhaps the most gloriously insane pair of performances by actor Leslie Nielsen, legendary B-Movie star and straightman, who achieved cinematic brilliance in these roles.

"Brilliance? Surely you jest."

No, I'm serious. And don't call me Shirley.

Here's a clip from a recent appearance on a morning happy-talk show marking the anniversary of one of the films, which Nielsen marks with rude noises and an anecdote from the wrong movie.

Posted by Mike Lief at 06:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 11, 2008

Remember this; remember them

Posted by Mike Lief at 12:10 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Remember

Posted by Mike Lief at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

They were always there

It seemed like they were always there, in the background. I never really liked them; too sterile, too modern, lacking any of the lush style and flair of the older buildings that made Manhattan such an architectural delight.

Rockefeller Center; the Empire State Building; the Chrysler Building. Man, they're beautiful.

But the behemoths that claimed lower Manhattan for themselves were so cold, devoid of human warmth or scale. The plaza between them was always a windy, barren patch of concrete, too cold and desolate for even the bums and pigeons. One hurried through the space as the wind howled, anxious to get inside, blind to the hidden charms of the twins.

But now, paging through a stack of old vacation photos, I spy a shot taken from Brooklyn, and there, in the background, they stand, beneath an oddly dark cloud.

And now they're gone, with their thousands of occupants and the brave firefighters and policemen who perished with them, too.

Only now do I realize that I miss them, never mind their ugliness or their ever-so-sophisticated design. They were a part of Manhattan, and if they were going to be stay or go, well, that was our decision.

And every time I look at the skyline, I think that it just looks wrong, and then I get mad. Because the appropriate response isn't sadness or sorrow or mournful contemplation.

What's needed is rage. White-hot fury. The need -- NEED, damn it! -- for vengeance. These are what the perfidious act of war inflicted upon our fellow citizens require, and what our war dead demand. Our enemies sneer, laugh and mock any talk of healing, forgiveness and moving on. The jihad doesn't require our consent; only our necks stretched bare for the blade.

And what of those ugly Twin Towers, laid low by our enemies? I miss the skyline I knew and took for granted, and all the New Yorkers I had yet to know -- and never will after 9/11.

Posted by Mike Lief at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

September 10, 2008

Michael Ramirez

Heh.

Posted by Mike Lief at 09:58 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

When liberal media doesn't like the answers

Mike Gravel ran for the Democratic nomination this year as a former Dem who left the party because of his belief that the war in Iraq was as much their fault as the Republicans'. Gravel, who served in the U.S. Senate as one of Alaska's two senators, and had a long career in Alaska politics, is thrown a series of underhand slow pitches by the hosts on far-left Pacifica Radio who want him to attack the GOP's newest star, but he refuses to play ball, insisting that Sarah Palin is a fine pick for McCain.

The frustration of the hosts is palpable, especially when Gravel says that "Troopergate" is going to end with Palin's vindication.

The male host, sounding disappointed, asks if Gravel is going to vote for McCain-Palin.

"No way," says Gravel, because he doesn't agree with most of what they stand for, but, he adds, he won't vote for Obama-Biden, either, because the Democrats are the "party of war." Gravel says that the GOP couldn't have gotten us into the Iraq war without the help of the Democrats, making them just as culpable.

An interesting interview.

Posted by Mike Lief at 07:15 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

September 09, 2008

Obama's feminist cred on display

Barack Obama is now denying that he was talking about Sarah Palin when he said this at a campaign appearance in Virginia.

Posted by Mike Lief at 06:07 PM

Obmam

http://wcbstv.com/politics/paterson.mccain.palin.2.813646.html

On Monday, Gov. David Paterson angered some state lawmakers by comparing them to vampires, calling them a bunch of "blood suckers." On Tuesday, he raised eyebrows again, and tempers, by accusing the John McCain campaign of veiled racism.

At the Crain's Business Forum this morning, Paterson drew attention to a phrase used numerous times by speakers at the Republican National Convention to describe Barack Obama's leadership experience: community organizer.

"I think the Republican Party is too smart to call Barack Obama 'black' in a sense that it would be a negative. But you can take something about his life, which I noticed they did at the Republican Convention – a 'community organizer.' They kept saying it, they kept laughing," he said.

Paterson referred to McCain's running mate Sarah Palin who compared her work experience to Obama's.

"So I suppose a small town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except with real responsibilities," she said at the convention.

Paterson sees the repeated use of the words "community organizer" as Republican code for "black".

"I think where there are overtones is when there are uses of language that are designed to inhibit other people's progress with a subtle reference to their race," he said.

But the McCain/Palin campaign quickly fired back in a statement, saying: "It is disappointing that Governor Paterson would launch accusations of racism. … Governor Palin's remarks about Barack Obama's work as a community organizer was in response to the Obama campaign's belittling of her executive experience."

The statement goes on to point out Sarah Palin's own experience of civic involvement and says Paterson's comments are "a sure sign of a flailing campaign that is bordering on desperation".

Paterson raises the question of whether the Presidential race has become desperate or devious.

"At this point, Americans wouldn't tolerate a racial appeal. What I'm saying is that there are sneaky ways to try to hurt someone," he said.

Paterson does say he's not certain that's happening.

But what disturbed him was what seemed like derisive laughter on the part of the Republicans at Obama's choice of helping his community rather than getting rich on Wall Street.

Paterson is New York state's first black governor.

Posted by Mike Lief at 05:36 PM

September 08, 2008

Meet the new Jeep J8

It's got a four-cylinder turbo-diesel, a nearly 3,000-pound payload and a pretty sweet pickup bed option, too, as well as plenty of old school Jeep style.

What the Jeep J8 doesn't have is even the lightest chance that you'll be able to buy it in the U.S., although the rest of the world can take it for a spin.

What the hell is cash-strapped Chrysler thinking?

Posted by Mike Lief at 07:48 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

What a difference a convention makes

Real Clear Politics collected the latest polling in the aftermath of the GOP convention (and Sarah Palin's blow-the-roof-off speech), and the McCain-Palin ticket has bounced to an outside-the-margin-of-error lead over Obama.

The size of that lead varies, depending on who did the polling, but USA Today reports the biggest gains: 10 percent!

The Republicans managed to draw blood, Palin's debut simultaneously boosting McCain's numbers (along with her own), while also effectively pointing out deficiencies in Obama's resume to disappointed Hillary supporters and other fence sitters.

A look at RCP's electoral map shows the Dems still in the lead overall, but with a number of states back in play for the GOP.

Click on image for larger version.

While ten points is an outlier, the momentum seems to be shifting away from the Obamessiah, much to the consternation of his media acolytes. If, as I suspect, Palin eats Biden's lunch at the upcoming debate, that gap may no longer be atypically large -- and may very well grow even bigger.

Posted by Mike Lief at 07:11 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

September 07, 2008

More than words

Extreme released this single, "More Than Words," back in 1989. It's a nice example of what can be accomplished with just a guitar and two singers harmonizing. It also bears little resemblance to what passes for popular music today.

Man, do I ever sound like a grumpy old man.

Posted by Mike Lief at 04:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Obama without a teleprompter

What would Obama do without his flunkies in the press to help guide him through the pitfalls of script-less interviews?

This morning's appearance on ABC's This Week is a good example.

Obama: What I was suggesting -- you, you're absolutely right that John McCain has not, ah, talked about my Muslim faith, and you're absolutely right that that is not --

George Stephanopoulos: -- Christian faith --

Obama: -- my, my Christian faith, and -- well, what I'm saying is that he has suggested that I'm -- that I'm -- that I'm a Muslim.

Whether a mere slip of the tongue or a Freudian slip, what the hell is Stephanopoulos doing correcting the candidate, rather than letting him finish his answer and following up with a question?

Oh, wait, my question presupposes that the host is an neutral journalist, rather than a public relations flack masquerading as a down-the-middle, fair-and-impartial reporter.

And did you notice that, buried at the end of Obama's gaffe, is the completely false -- as in bald-faced lie -- that John McCain has implied that Obama is a Muslim?

I invite you to do your own research, but with this morning's appearance, Obama has done more to spread the rumor that he's a Muslim than has his opponent.

And, no, I don't think he's a secret Mohammedean -- just an increasingly rattled, nervous, not-yet-ready-for-primetime presidential candidate.

UPDATE

Commenter Dave says I'm misquoting Obama, that he said McCain "hasn't suggested" he's a Muslim. I listened again and it still sounds like "has" to my ears, but I'll concede that it's entirely possible that the candidate low-talked the contraction.

However, the larger point remains that it's Obama who keeps raising the issue of his faith, not the McCain campaign, and to the extent it remains an issue is a product of Obama trotting it out as proof that he's being victimized by nameless, faceless bigots who just so happen to allegedly have some tenuous affiliation with his opponent.

Posted by Mike Lief at 11:27 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

Dear Mr. Obama

A message from a veteran of the war to free Iraq. Watch it, then forward the link to your friends.

Posted by Mike Lief at 10:39 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

A reminder from the primaries ...

Obama's supporters didn't have good answer before Palin joined the race -- and still don't now -- about why he's qualified, what he's accomplished to justify him being the presidential nominee for the Democratic Party.

And a reminder that Chris Matthews used to find the idea of an Obama candidacy risible, before he drank the Kool-Aid and turned into an acolyte of the Obamessiah.

Posted by Mike Lief at 09:08 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

The candidates and their versions of honesty

Hollywood screenwriter -- and recovering '60s leftist -- Roger L. Simon dismisses the "is Oprah biased in favor of Obama?" with a dismissive, "Duh!" before moving on to something more revealing.

More interesting is the snippet from [Bill] O’Reilly of Obama acknowledging that the Surge was a great success while seemingly not being able to admit that he was wrong about it. You would think it wouldn ‘t be that difficult, but he struggled as if admitting an affair.

Compare that with McCain who in the midst of his acceptance speech, seen by more even than Obama’s, acknowledged to the world that he was broken under the pressure of North Vietnamese torture.

What we have before us is the pretension of honesty (Obama) versus honesty (McCain). In a certain way it relates to the Oprah Show, which has always seemed to me an “as if” production: we are all “open” here, it purports to say. But to paraphrase Orwell, “some people are more open than others.” I suspect the public senses this and, ultimately, knows the difference. We shall see.

It seems to me that at almost any level, when the he turns the campaign into a comparison of the merits of Obama against McCain, or Obama's experience versus Palin's, the Democratic candidate always comes out second best.

Every time the Democratic candidate and his surrogates question Palin's no. 2 spot on the GOP ticket, it calls into question Obama's place on the top of theirs.

But the difference between McCain and Obama is even greater, and the contrast between the lives they've led couldn't be starker.

One man broke under torture, admits it, and has never forgotten what it means to suffer for his country. The other has led a charmed life, floating upwards like a feather on a warm, gentle, honeysuckle-laden summer breeze (why am I reminded of that darn feather from "Forrest Gump"?), somehow always settling on ever-loftier jobs based on nothing more than a ready smile and a glib line of guff.

I was -- and still am -- taken aback by McCain's admission; it's startling, stark and sobering. It's a helluva thing for a man, any man, to admit -- especially when he's running for the presidency.

And it's almost unbearably honest.

Posted by Mike Lief at 08:13 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 04, 2008

Wow.

Rudy Giuliani proved himself the pugnacious, in-your-face Noo Yawker we knew him to be, delivering a classic Gotham City-style street brawl to the GOP Convention. I listened to him on the radio and wondered how Sarah Palin would do, following an act like this.

I shouldn't have wondered. The video above contains about three and a half minutes of highlights from Palin's introduction to the American People, and it's clear to me that she's about the best politician to take the stage since Ronald Wilson Reagan.

I felt like I was watching greatness, a political star being born, albeit one that had begun burning brightly beneath the midnight Arctic sun years ago.

That was a tremendous speech, delivered under circumstances designed to make ordinary people wilt: the media attacking her 17-year-old daughter; political opponents questioning the authenticity of Palin's most recent pregnancy; journalists belittling her service as governor of Alaska; commentators indulging in chin-stroking, brow-furrowed discussions on whether it was fair to her children that this mother wasn't choosing to stay at home (Did anyone slam Biden for staying in the Senate after his wife was killed, leaving him to raise his two small sons?).

Rather than appearing cowed, unsure of herself -- or her decision to accept McCain's offer -- Palin seemed preternaturally confident, connecting with the audience in the hall and at home, communicating with great style who she is and what she believes:

She's a mom who went from the PTA to the Mayor's office, from Wasilla City Council to the Governor's Mansion, a fierce competitor who played high school basketball with a fractured ankle -- and someone who knows that, yes, if the Democratic Party believes that Obama is ready to be President, then Sarah Palin is more than ready to be V.P.

I mentioned earlier that Palin reminded me of Reagan, with one notable difference. Ronald Reagan was famous for his avuncular presence, the twinkle in his eye, his ability to deliver a sharp riposte without making you think that he was a cold-hearted S.O.B. However, Reagan was a man who kept a tight grip on his innermost thoughts and emotions, a man difficult to get close to, not willing to let many become familiar.

Palin, on the other hand, has an inner life that she wears on her sleeve. Married to her childhood sweetheart (She told him, "You're still my guy!" during her speech.) with five children she obviously adores, Palin seems much more open, more authentic, than Reagan, with a life story that is infinitely more compelling than his, her journey from small-town jock and wife of a fisherman to the stage at the GOP convention even more remarkable than Reagan's metamorphosis from actor to commander in chief.

I suspect that Palin will prove to be even more popular than Reagan -- when it comes to the affections of regular folk.

Simply the best political debut on the national stage I've seen.

Posted by Mike Lief at 07:24 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

September 03, 2008

Newt takes MSNBC reporter Palin critics to the woodshed

One of MSNBC's correspondents working the floor of the GOP convention asked Newt Gingrich about Sarah Palin's qualifications to be on the ticket.

Gingrich answered with a broadside -- or was that a fusillade? -- aimed at her critics, leaving the journalist stunned.

Posted by Mike Lief at 07:45 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

September 02, 2008

Time to reset the Biden gaffe-o-meter

The Republican National Committee has a countdown clock running on the party's homepage, keeping track of ... well, see for yourself.

It looks like it's time to reset it.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the country, Senator Joe Biden discusses the mountainous Afghanistan-Pakistan border "where Obama, Osama Bin Laden lives, and Obama wants to go to get him."

Obama. Osama. Anyone could confuse them.

You'd just think his running mate would make an effort to keep them straight.

Posted by Mike Lief at 08:29 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Saluting our heroes -- UPDATED with Mike Monsoor video

The GOP is paying tribute to America's military heroes, starting with a video of Navy SEAL Michael Monsoor, posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. It is very, very moving. Interestingly, it's narrated by actor Gary Sinise, who quietly works behind the scenes to help the troops at every opportunity.

Monsoor's sister is present, and there's a long standing ovation for her brother.

The speaker, a Marine who was imprisoned with John McCain in the Hanoi Hilton, next asks five Medal of Honor winners to stand, and they receive thunderous applause, with chants of "USA! USA!"

The Marine says, "My two minutes looks like it's going to turn into an hour," thanks to the extended cheers for the elderly vets.

Then he asks another group of men to take a bow: more than 24 former POWs who served -- and suffered -- with McCain at the hands of their Communist captors.

Again, the applause is long and loud.

This is a very different convention from the one we saw in Denver.

Posted by Mike Lief at 06:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Instapundit hammers MSM on Sarah Palin and John Edwards

It's a two-fer!

Glenn Reynolds -- the law prof who blogs as InstaPundit -- has come up with the best line so far about the media's meltdown over Sarah Palin's daughter.

"How they could have kept the Palin pregnancy out of the press: Leaked it that John Edwards was the father . . . ."

That's going to leave a mark.

Posted by Mike Lief at 06:29 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Sarah Palin facts

Little known facts about Sarah Palin.

We don’t know who would win in a Chuck Norris - Sarah Palin cage match because they’ve never invented a cage that can hold Sarah Palin.

Alaska is the 49th state solely because they knew even before she was born that Sarah Palin would never finish last.

Global Warming doesn’t kill polar bears. Sarah Palin does - usually with her bare hands.

It’s not raining in DC. Those are God’s tears of joy that McCain picked Sarah Palin.

Sarah Palin knows the location of DB Cooper’s body because she threw him from the plane.

Sarah Palin once bagged a caribou by staring it down until it died.

Sarah Palin turned down a job as skipper of a Deadliest Catch boat because it wasn’t challenging enough.

Sarah Palin fishes salmon by convincing them it’s in their interest to jump into the boat.

Via an ever-expanding list at PalinFacts.

Posted by Mike Lief at 06:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 01, 2008

T. Boone Pickens is full of @#it

If you've been watching TV during this campaign season, you've probably seen billionaire T. Boone Pickens' ads for increased use of wind power to satisfy America's energy demands, wrapped in a easy-to-swallow coating of "wean us off foreign oil" rhetoric.

I'll tell you why he's full of crap in a minute, but let me first note that he's no dummy. This billionaire didn't make -- and keep -- his fortune by being stupid, and this campaign proves that he's cunning like a fox, given that he stands to make additional billions on wind-powered electricity, thanks to his ownership of corporations involved in ... can you guess? ... wind-powered electrical production.

Now, why do I say he's feeding the public a steaming pile of hooey?

It's this line from the ad that gives away the game.

Pickens then appears and says, "And the big debate in Washington is whether or not to drill. I say, drill, drill, drill. But the debate misses the point: Either way, we'll still be dependent on foreign oil ..."

Here's where the manure meets the road.

The premise that undergirds his entire argument -- that the United States only has 3 percent of the world's oil reserves -- is false. It's misleading. It's a scam.

The U.S. does indeed have 3 percent of the global oil reserves. Today. After nearly 40 years of Democrats and eco-weenies doing everything possible to block increased domestic oil production.

When demand for oil goes up, and America's oil reserves are placed off-limits, then imported oil is the natural source.

But what Pickens doesn't tell you is that American oil reserves -- including shale oil -- exceed the capacity all the known oil fields in the world. Including past production, dating back to when they first began pumping crude more than 80 years ago.

So, notwithstanding Pickens' line that increased domestic drilling for oil won't do anything to save us from foreign oil, the reality is that we have enough crude within our own borders to satisfy our energy needs for the foreseeable future, certainly long enough to carry us until we get nuclear reactors up and running in numbers sufficient to replace coal-generated powerplants.

But then again, Pickens isn't in a position to profit from those technologies, which is why he's pushing so hard for wind power.

He's got one thing right: Drill, drill, drill.

Posted by Mike Lief at 03:56 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Is that "Terry Moran or Terry Moron?"

Gerard Van Der Leun calls this an "immortal blooper," one that should -- and will -- live forever, thanks to e-mail forwards and the internet.

I just think it's an inadvertent recognition of how truly special is the Obamessiah.

Posted by Mike Lief at 08:13 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Why Palin?

Right Wing Prof makes the case for Palin in an all-inclusive, one-stop, all-you-can-eat post, beginning with why Sarah Palin is the perfect choice for McCain's running mate.

Here's a taste.

Palin strengthens all of McCain’s strongest attributes. She’s a fearless fighter, who fought her state party’s entrenched power structure, and won. Strong and courageous — two of McCain’s greatest strengths — are also hers. Like McCain, she hates corruption, back room deals, and government waste, and she’s been fighting it since before she was the governor. Also like McCain, she cares less for party line than what she believes is right. By putting her on the ticket instead of a Washington insider, McCain put real teeth in his campaign for change — real change, not insubstantial, undefined change. Like McCain, Palin is an unwavering, unapologetic patriot, and both believe firmly in Reagan’s view of America as a shining city on a hill.

She also shores up McCain’s weaknesses. She’s more socially conservative than McCain, and if you don’t think that’s important, note that seven million dollars in contributions have poured into the campaign since she was announced in Dayton. Of all the primary candidates, her conservatism is most similar to Fred Thompson’s. She takes her oath seriously, and used her veto pen the first time because the law violated the state constitution. She is less favorably disposed to regulation than is McCain, but she’s not afraid to go after powerful businesses when she perceives that it’s in the peoples’ best interests. We know this because she took on the oil companies in Alaska — and won.

No other candidate I can think of would so perfectly have complemented — and strengthened — McCain. Not Romney, not Huck, not Pawlenty. Nobody.

I can't disagree with his logic; my support for McCain has been tepid at best, more akin to voting for him in spite of his stand on myriad issues. Palin more closely represents the qualities that traditional conservatives value, and helps generate real enthusiasm for the ticket for the first time.

But Palin's most attractive qualities appear in the next section, where he explains that she's every Jacksonian's dream candidate -- and he's right.

Let’s start with her character and values. Bill Whittle comments on another blog:

I think it is a big mistake to assume that McCain picked Palin because she is a woman. No doubt that is a part of it, but it is Palin’s character that has us just smitten with her. She had a problem at school one day so she went to a PTA meeting. She didn’t like the way things were going so she ran for the PTA and won. Then she ran for mayor of her hometown — where she played basketball and met her husband — and won. Then she got disgusted by Alaska politics and GOP corruption, and as a Republican ran against the corruption in her own party — and won. And she never whined or complained. She’s happily married, she’s a tough lady married to a tougher man, and she got there through hard work and sheer determination.

She’s the conservative success story, and that is why men and women on the right just LOVE this pick. Not because she’s a woman, but because she’s Joe, uh, make that JANE Citizen, and she played by the rules and beat corruption . . . I would encourage you to look at Sarah Palin as what we all hope for: a self-made person who seems to want to do the right thing. She’s not a Woman VP — she’s an anti-corruption VP. That’s how we see her. That’s how she deserves to be seen. She has the enthusiastic — actually, incandescent support of every conservative I know — not because she is a political missile aimed at Hillary voters, but because she embodies the American dream of the citizen who decided to make a difference.

By adding Palin to the ticket, he put the stamp of absolute authenticity on his campaign. Make no mistake, Sarah Palin is as real as it gets. She’s not a wealthy insider pretending to be blue collar. She’s as Joe Jane Six-Pack as anyone alive.

She fishes. She hunts. She’s a gun nut. She shops at Wal-Mart. She was raised by a teacher and a school secretary. She rides a Harley and hangs around with Vietnam Vet bikers. Biden can talk all he wants about his “blue collar roots,” but it’s nothing more than bluster when placed against Palin. And understand: Wal-Mart voters have an unerring instict for detecting one of their own.

I remain more convinced than ever that Palin will prove to be an asset to McCain; the increasing hysteria in the Democratic ranks -- and amongst their media lackeys -- as they scramble to smear, slander and denigrate her serves only to reveal what a threat Palin represents to the lackluster Obama-Biden ticket.

Posted by Mike Lief at 12:25 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack